I Speak With My Eyes
by Watercolor Ink
Summary: Naruto becomes a mystery slipping in an out of everyone's lives... [NaruSaku][Calm!Naruto]


I don't know why I wrote this. Its kinda weird and hard to follow, but I liked it. Had no idea it was going to be a NaruSaku when I was writing, but there you go.

I'd say this whole thing was inspired by a pic Sonija on deviantart, called "me like you like me"

discalimer: If I owned Naruto, he would be the calm, silent type.

* * *

People change, obviously. Sasuke had changed; left the village. Sakura had changed; she was a strong, confident medic-nin now. Naruto had changed too.

Nobody really noticed when it first happened. It was probably a few months before anyone really saw he was gone. And it wasn't that he was truly gone, but he had disappeared from the streets of Konoha, lurking in the forests and ally ways.

No one really knew why, either, except that one day Iruka had stopped by Naruto's house, only to find a mess of ashes and rotting wood. It had been burned down. Actually, if anyone bothered to look underneath the underneath, as all shinobi were told to, the reason might have been obvious.

The village hated him. He had failed to retrieve their precious Uchiha. He had failed Sakura. She had done the worst, by ignoring him. The villagers already ignored him, except for their murmurs of 'demon' or 'monster.' Then, his remaining teammate pretends he doesn't exist.

Naruto fell into depression. After his battle with Sasuke, Naruto had been forced to stay in the hospital for nearly two weeks. Two horribly godforsaken weeks. He had heard that Neji's family has visited him, and Shikamaru didn't have to see the white walls of the place at all. Everyone else was out in a couple days.

No one came to see him. Not Sakura (of course) not Iruka-sensei (some fatherly figure you are) not Kakashi-sensei (probably too busy reading). No one. Not nurses or doctors, even, because they all refused to treat him.

Months later, he was still alone. His house was his refuge, when training and stuffing yourself with ramen didn't work.

The villagers burned his house down.

No one talked to him anymore. He talked to no one in return. Mute. (Not that they didn't talk ABOUT him, mind you).

With nowhere to go, no person to run to, he left to the forests and shadows. Lived among the trees, became his own teacher. His close comrades never forgot, they simply never paid close attention. Until he was gone.

It was Shikamaru who found him first.

The day had been calm and sunny, a few wisps of clouds drifting idly. The lazy genius would have liked nothing better than to lean back and relax, watching those clouds. Unfortunately, he had a mission to deliver a scroll to some village.

He had no specific time limit for reaching there, so he stopped at late afternoon and camped deep within the woods surrounding Konoha.

Maybe it was pure coincidence they met up, maybe it was fate. But whatever the reason, when Shikamaru went down to a nearby stream for water, someone was already there.

He didn't recognize him at first. His blond hair had grown out long and reached his shoulders. The whisker marks were sill there, but what really gave him away were the eyes. So clear and blue, they had lost some of their light, but they were still the same. No amount of blood and dirt could get rid of that. It could get rid of goofy smiles and loud laughter, it appeared.

"Hey." Shikamaru had said, crouching down besides him on the bank. Naruto had arched an eyebrow at this, as though surprised he had been acknowledged. He let his gaze fall back on the running water.

They sat in silence for several moments before Shikamaru;s curiosity returned.

"It was troublesome," He murmured, rolling a rock in his fingers, "But after you left, Hokage-sama sent us all out on a huge search party to find you." He glanced over at Naruto, who shrugged. Shikamaru sighed, and flicked the rock into the water. It fell with a small 'plionk.'

"You could at least say something." He said.

Naruto turned to face him, eyeing him calmly with his radiant eyes. Shikamaru was truly surprised; the boy had certainly grown a lot out here in the wilderness. He had no time to follow that train of thought, though, as Naruto was shaking his head and trying to get a message across.

"You can't." Shikamaru stated. " Weird. Troublesome." He sighed and picked up another rock.

Later, when night began to fall, he invited Naruto to eat with him by his fire. Naruto agreed, the relief in his eyes all Shikamaru needed. They ate quietly and peacefully, the deer boy sharing small tidbits about their friends whenever it seemed the blond was getting restless.

When morning came, Shikamaru set off again, leaving Naruto with a 'goodbye' and happy smile. Naruto returned the gesture with his own trademark grin and a nod.

When Shikamaru told Tsunade about his encounter a day or two after the mission was completed, she went berserk. He had managed to escape the office with only a minor bruise on his arm. That desk (split in two) hadn't been so lucky.

It would be truthful to say that after Naruto left, Konoha lost a bit of its sparkle, its sunshine. Hinata became more distant, Sakura became guilt-ridden, and the entire rookie 9 mourned him. The time had been short, though, and soon daily lives returned, if a bit more serious and forced than before.

Six months passed after Shikamaru's encounter with him, with no sign he was still alive at all. He was, nonetheless.

The next time he was seen was actually in Konoha.

It was Konohamaru who spotted him, or rather spotted a smudge of golden hair attached to a body that was hanging from the Fourth Hokage's ear.

No one noticed him entering, no one sw him once he was within.

"Ne, ne!" The boy cried, waving up at his idol, "You've come back! Finally! I knew you would!" He stared up gleefully at the blond, who was still hanging upside down.

Not for long. In one smooth, fluid movement, Naruto flipped and landed like a cat on the platform Konohamaru was standing on. The younger gaped at him, awed by his grace.

"That was so cool! Will you teach me to do that?"

Naruto simply chucked, ruffling the boy's hair. Then, he jumped back up the Hokage faces and disappeared over the side of the mountain.

After that, sightings of Naruto were always like this, where he would appear for a second, and then be gone, mysterious. He was like the green flash at sunset, leaving those who've seen it unsure if they saw it at all.

Tsunade read each and every report about her 'little brother' carefully and with much more intensity than she read anything else on her desk. Because she wanted him back, to the friends who missed him. She wanted that happy go lucky kid who's determination amazed everybody, not this ghostly person who never seemed like more than a dream. She wanted the loud one, not this mute man.

Naruto was not mute by definition, of course. He probably could still talk, if he even remembered how, but he chose not to, refused to, as though it were a silence he was afraid to break.

Sakura was powerful now. The sannin's apprentice, great medical-nin, cherry blossom of Konoha, she went by many titles and names. She felt confidant and content. But never happy. She was too guilty for happiness, and though she denied it, the truth was she blamed herself for the disappearance of Naruto.

She wasn't all to blame; certainly the vengeful villagers had played a big role, but she had sent him over, by refusing to admit he had done any good, refusing to acknowledge his existence.

Tsunade knew, even after two years, that her apprentice was still hurting, and a place felt empty inside, where once Naruto (and Sasuke) filled her heart.

That was why, reading the latest information on the runaway fox-boy, she knew Sakura and Naruto could both be healed, pulled from their darkness and solitude. All it would take were words.

Sakura sat patiently on a tree branch, high off the ground. It was a mission; intercept a self-proclaimed missing-nin at this crossroads. She was told she would know him when she saw him.

And then, she saw him, and she knew him. He was darting a little ways off the main path, a shadow, quick and silent, but a golden shadow with now long flowing hair that reached halfway down his back.

He had changed a lot in two years.

"Naruto!" She screeched, forgetting the mission, even if it concerned him. She jumped form the tree, desperate to talk to him, to see him again. She was ashamed of what she had done, but too proud to not face him.

To her relief, he stopped, looking in her direction. He widened his eyes and mouthed the words 'Sakura-chan' though no sound escaped. He still had those vibrant blue eyes.

They stood face to face. Examining each other, Sakura realized she would have to spark the fire. With a bit of apprehension she whispered.

"Naruto, I…I…I wanted to explain…" She looked into his eyes, and saw everything. His pain, his need, his loneliness, but his joy of freedom as well, the exhilaration of being able to move as one wished.

Stunned, her sentence lay dead in the air, unfinished. Had his eyes always been so expressive?

"They speak for me." She gasped as he murmured his first words in what seemed like forever. His voice had deepened; he sounded like a man. A mature, well weathered man. It could be described as nothing less than handsome.

A small, true smile graced his features, as he reached up and moved a stray blond hair from his face.

"Its good to see you again, Sakura-chan."

She cried out and embraced him in a tight hug, sobbing out her apologies and all the words she had needed to say for so long.

Naruto startled, wrapping his arms around her in return. But his eyes danced with glee at being with her again. After all, love always seemed to last longer in the end.

As her screams slowly died down into murmurs and whispers, he stayed silent all the time; but there was no need for him to speak.

Later, when the two walked into Konoha, side by side, holding hands simply for the contact, the closeness, the entire village seemed to light again. Its sunshine had returned.


End file.
